


Distraction

by orphan_account



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-27
Updated: 2011-09-27
Packaged: 2017-10-24 02:33:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/257934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In their sixth year at Hogwarts, Harry and Draco struggle to keep their own secrets while maintaining a relationship with each other. When Draco tells Harry he needs a distraction, Harry suggests broomsticks...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Distraction

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes when your friend asks for a distraction, an H/D fic emerges. Such is life.

"Love me or hate me, both are in my favor…If you love me, I'll always be in your heart…If you hate me, I'll always be in your mind."  
— William Shakespeare  
   
~

Harry Potter was obsessed with Draco Malfoy, but not in the way everyone thought he was. Unless they thought it was in a sexual way, in which case they were correct.  
   
His feelings weren’t just sexual, although for two 16-year-old boys that was a big part of it. Harry had a passion to know what his former rival was up to all the time. The problem was that Draco was quite intent on keeping his secrets, well, secret.  
   
At first, Draco’s stealth caused Harry so much jealousy that he couldn’t take it anymore and confronted Draco, asking if there was someone else.  
   
“You’ve cheated on me more with that book than I have ever cheated on you,” Draco told him.  
   
“It’s just a book,” Harry protested.  
   
“Then let me see it.”  
   
“No,” Harry said, shutting and putting it away.  
   
“You have your secrets and I have mine.”  
   
But Harry’s secrets weren’t causing dark circles to appear under his eyes, or his ribs to begin showing because he was forgetting to eat. Harry didn’t space out at meals, staring across the Great Hall without really seeing. He didn’t miss class or forget what they were talking about when he went.  
   
Harry saw what Draco’s secrets were doing to him and for the past few months, he had been determined to find out what they were and how to make them stop. Unfortunately, Draco wanted just the opposite.  
   
~  
   
On the first day the temperature was frigid, Harry was reading the book he brought with him everywhere. Sitting on the large windowsill in his room, he leaned his face against the cold glass, trying to memorize a potion. When Hedwig tapped against the window, Harry wasn’t surprised. He let his owl in, along with a gust of cold air, and snatched the note from her claw.  
   
 _I’m cold._  
 _Come warm me up?_  
 _The usual spot._  
   
Harry finished reading the note just in time before it crumbled in his hands, leaving ash everywhere. After shaking off his book, Harry slipped on his shoes and grabbed his invisibility cloak.  
   
He jogged down the stairs, past Ron and Hermione in the common room, and out the portrait hole. The corridors were freezing, so Harry picked up his pace, running all the way to an innocent-looking wall that was anything but.  
   
 _I need a place to be alone with Draco_ , he thought, pacing back and forth three times. A door materialized in front of him, and Harry pushed it open.  
   
Inside, Draco had a fire blazing in each of the fireplaces that had appeared on every wall.  
   
“Shut the door. You’ll let the cold air in.”  
   
Harry obeyed and stepped into the room, which felt uncomfortably warm. He stopped advancing when Draco turned to him.  
   
His hair was too long and lay plastered to his forehead, which looked pale and sweaty. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes where wide and bright.  
   
Harry took in these symptoms, but they weren’t what made his heart melt right there on the spot. It was the look Draco was giving him, the one that screamed _help_ and _I need you,_ which Draco would never say out loud, and Harry could never say no to.  
   
So instead, Harry said, “Okay” and held out his arms.  
   
“Okay, what?” Draco asked, brushing past Harry.  
   
“I’ll do whatever you want,” Harry said, flashing what he hoped was an encouraging smile.  
   
“Anything?” Draco had come full circle around Harry and was facing him again.  
   
“Anything.”  
   
“Good. I need you to distract me.”  
   
“Er,” Harry said and then went for the most logical place: Draco’s pants.  
   
Draco slapped him away. “Kindly keep your hands to yourself, Mr. Potter.”  
   
Harry refrained from rolling his eyes and went to sit on the bed. _What’s bothering Draco so much?_ he wondered. At first he thought of Draco’s father, imprisoned thanks to Harry. But if Draco were upset about that at this moment, he would be avoiding Harry like he had in the past. Draco was facing something else – something worse. Harry didn’t dare ask what. “I’m out of ideas,” he said instead. “You got any?”  
   
“That’s it? You make one attempt and give up? I thought you were made of more than that.”  
   
“I have a one-track mind,” Harry responded. “You said to come warm you up, so I thought…”  
   
“It is cold,” Draco said, shivering on cue. He hugged his arms around himself, but his posture told Harry to stay back. “I asked you here to distract me. I can’t do it myself, so I ne—” He stopped pacing and looked at Harry.  
   
“I would love to be of help here, but driving you to distraction is not dissimilar to driving right off a cliff.”  
   
“Your analogy is lost on me,” Draco said. “I’m not a muggle and therefore don’t drive. And if I were to fall off a cliff, I’d have my broom so I could just fly.”  
   
“If you were falling, how would you have your broom? Do you just carry it around with you everywhere?”  
   
Draco leaned in close to Harry. “I never leave home without my broomstick.”  
   
“I can’t tell if you’re trying to be sexual or not,” Harry said.  
   
“Argh!” Draco replied, throwing up his hands for emphasis.  
   
“Usually you think I’m charming.”  
   
“Then usually I must be blinded by…”  
   
“Lust?” Harry offered. “I don’t even know what to do with you right now. You spurn my advances, and I know we don’t talk about things like feelings, but maybe you could just tell me what’s wrong.”  
   
“My life is a swirling vortex of evil,” Draco said, joining Harry on the bed.  
   
“I can work with that,” Harry replied.  
   
“That’s not even original,” Draco continued as if he hadn’t heard Harry. “I know it’s a quote from somewhere, but I can’t remember… And now I’m quoting other people.” He buried his face in his hands.   
   
Alarmed, Harry got up and began pacing where Draco had left off. He tried to think of a good distraction but the only things that came to his mind were broomsticks, which were no help at all. Unless…  
   
“Come on,” Harry said, holding out his hand to Draco. “I thought of something to do.”  
   
“Does it involve moving?” Draco asked.  
   
“Well, yes.”  
   
“Far?”  
   
“If outside counts as far, then yes again.”  
   
“What part of ‘I’m cold’ didn’t you get the first three times I said it?”  
   
“Draco Malfoy, don’t be such a grump. Now stand up so I can put my arms around you and we can huddle together under my invisibility cloak and go do something fun.”  
   
“Okay,” Draco said, getting up and heading straight to Harry. He slid his arms around Harry’s back and put his head on Harry’s shoulder. “I’m ready.”  
   
~  
   
Honestly, his idea was brilliant. Although Draco had shivered the whole way down to the Quidditch Pitch, by the time Harry had given Draco his cloak and got them both on their brooms and flying, Draco seemed to be doing much better.  
   
Flying at night was its own kind of exhilarating. In the dark, the ground was indistinguishable and the stars overhead were unending. The rush of wind replaced the roar of crowds, and if he and Draco stopped moving, Harry could hear a chorus of owls as they flew back and forth from the owlery.  
   
Draco flew with a confidence Harry hadn’t seen in him before. Maybe because there was no purpose to their flying – and no competition. He would not let their flight turn into a race. Draco soared and dove, and Harry flew next to him or right behind but never took the lead.  
   
He didn’t know how long they had been flying, but his hands were numb and his back and legs were sore when Draco turned around and shouted, “Stop following me!”  
   
Harry sped up so they were next to each other, and Draco rammed his broom to the side, as he had so many times during matches against each other. “What if I don’t want to stop?” Harry shouted back.  
   
“You _can’t,_ ” Draco said, reaching out to Harry and gripping his arm. It hurt where his nails dug in. “You can’t follow me anymore.”  
   
Draco pushed Harry hard before descending in a spiral. It took Harry a moment to regain his balance, but when he did he shot after the other boy. Draco’s maneuvers became more difficult to copy, and Harry almost slammed into a goal post before side-sweeping at the last moment. Draco dove to the ground in a dizzying descent. He didn’t slow down in time and had to roll off his broom. Harry jumped off his own and offered his hand to help Draco up.  
   
Draco just shook his head. “Come here,” he said, so Harry sat down facing him. Draco inched closer and soon their legs where interlocked and Draco was gripping Harry’s hands.  
   
“This is our last night together, Potter,” Draco said.  
   
Harry didn’t understand. “What are you talking about? You’re not going somewhere, are you?”  
   
“Figuratively speaking, yes. Harry, you can’t help me.” Harry’s face must have spoken for him because Draco leaned in said, “Please don’t be so sad,” and kissed him. The kiss was hungry, with both boys grabbing onto each other, barely able to breathe, but neither wanting to stop for air.  
   
It wasn’t finished – do kisses ever finish? – when Draco pulled away. “I can’t anymore. You’re going to hate me for what I’m planning on doing next.”  
   
“What will you do?” Harry asked, feeling lightheaded and unsatisfied.  
   
“You know better than to ask.”  
   
“I won’t hate you.”  
   
“Yes,” Draco said, grabbing Harry’s shoulders. “You have to.” His eyes searched Harry’s, for what, Harry didn’t know.  
   
 _Feverish eyes_ , Harry remembered, thinking – hoping – that later Draco would calm down and change his mind.  
   
“You have to hate me,” Draco continued, “because I don’t want to be the only one hating myself. And if you hate me then… well, those feelings will be strong enough.”  
   
Without a kiss or a hug or another goodbye gesture, Draco disentangled himself and stood up. Harry moved to do the same, but Draco had his wand out, pointing it at Harry. “I told you not to follow me.”  
   
Harry knew he was fast, knew he could have been up on his feet and casting spells back at Draco at least as well as the other boy. But he also knew Draco didn’t want him to do that.  
   
So Harry stayed where he was and watched Draco walk away. Because that’s what love was, wasn’t it? Listening to what the other person wanted instead of what you did? At least that night Harry told himself that’s what it was, that he stayed there for hours, waited all night until the sun came up in fact, for love.  
   
~  
   
Harry Potter was obsessed with Draco Malfoy. At times that obsession had been lust, pity, even love, but never hate. Try as he might, as angry as he would later be, Harry could never bring himself to hate Draco.  
   
He could have thought of it as a failure on his part to not accede to one last request. But somehow Harry didn’t think he was wrong at all. And he thought, or at least hoped, Draco felt the same.

~


End file.
